Toy railroad track connectors



Jan. 27, 1959 F. PETTIT 2,

' TOY RAILROAD TRACK CONNECTQRS Filed Aug. 5, 1955 INVENTOR 0mg Par/r I ATTORNEY TOY RAILROAD TRACK CONNECTORS Frank Pettit, Union, N. J., assignor to The Lionel Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 5, 1955, Serial No. 526,748

3 Claims. (Cl. 191-29) The present invention relates to toy railroad track connectors and is more particularly directed towards connectors for use for toy railroad tracks to provide contact rails supplemental to the usual power and wheel bearing rails so as to convey current to electrically operated de-' vices carried on a car located on the rails.

The present invention contemplates a connector adapted to be snapped onto the trackage in such a way as to secure it to the trackage and provide electrical connections with the power or third rail of the track and to control rails, one on each side of the power rail.

Toy railroad track of the usual gauge is made with the rails at diiferent'heights, the trucks on the toy cars are carried at different heights from the rail flanges and they therefore carry the collector shoes at difierent heights from the rail flanges. To compensate for the variation in rail heights, the connector is provided with removable auxiliary control rail elements adapted to be detachably secured to the permanently attached control rails.

The accompanying drawings show, for purposes of illustrating the present invention, one embodiment in which the invention may take form, it being understood that the drawings are illustrative of the invention rather than limiting the same.

In this drawing:

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the track connector;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view illustrating the relative position of the connector and track during assembly;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the connector as arranged for use with higher track with parts broken away, and showing the location of the power and wheel bearing rails;

Figure 4 is an inverted plan view of the connector;

Figure 5 is a section taken on the line 5-5 of Figures 3 and 4 illustrating the connector attached to track with higher rails;

Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Figures 3 and 4 illustrating the connector attached to track with lower rails; and

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Figure 5.

The connector employs an insulating base 10 made of sheet material and all the parts are secured to this base. The base 10 has holes indicated at 11-11 and 12-12 for the receipt of downwardly extending prongs 13-13 and 14-14 of sheet metal risers or control rails 15-15. The'prongs 14-14 pass down through the holes 11', 12 and are upset as indicated at Ma, Figures 4 and 5. The prongs 13-13 pass down through holes 11 and 12 and through holes 16-16 of a conducting strap 17 and are bent over onto this strap as indicated at 13a. The strap 17 and a wire receiving clip 18 are secured to abase 10 by a rivet indicated at 19. In this way, both control rails 15 are connected together and to an easily accessible wiring terminal or clip.

Another similar wiring terminal or clip 20 and 21 conducting spring 21 are secured to the base 10 by a rivet ice indicated at 22. The other end of the spring 21 is bent upwardly as indicated at 23 and passes through a hole 23 in the insulating base. A strip 24 is secured to the base by prongs 25 passing through holes 25' in the base and bent over as indicated at 25a, Figure 4. Strap 24 has an upwardly extending lip or flange 26.

When the base 10 carries risers or control rails 15-15, the spring 21 and the strap 24, the parts are in proper position to be assembled with a track section T having relatively low wheel bearing and power rails as indicated in Figures 2 and 6. The wheel bearing rails are indicated at R-R, and the power rail at P. The connector is placed underneath a section of track between the cross ties and the lip or flange 26 of the strap 24 brought against the flange of one of the track rails R. The spring clip 23 extending up through the opening 23' in the base 10 is in position to be snapped up onto the flange of the power rail P as indicated in Figure 6, This places the two control rails 15-15 on opposite sides of the power rail P and at an elevation to properly cooperate with connector shoe indicated at S of the type carried by toy railroad cars. This shoe is at a predetermined height above the tread surfaces of the wheel bearing rails and at a predetermined spacing from the power rail. As the usual trucks of toy railroad cars have but one contact shoe such as S, it makes no difference in which direction the truck may be placed on the track for its contact shoe S will ride on one or the other of the contact rails when the truck passes by. The contact rails 15-15 are rounded as indicated at 15a, 15a so that the connector shoe S passes by without interference.

Where the higher track rails R, P are used as indicated in Figure 5, his apparent that the collector shoe S on cars travelling on such rails will be at a greater height from track flanges than in Figure 6. In order to provide extensions for the contact rails so that contact may be made at a higher elevation, bent wire conductor members are provided as shown at 30-30. These members are U shaped with the lower leg 31 of the U adapted to be inserted in between the side walls of the sheet metal control rails 15. These bent wire members are resilient so as to form U shaped springs so that once they are inserted in place they remain there. The free end 32 of the longer upper leg is bent down as indicated so as to form a sloping surface to engage the collector shoe as it passes by. The type of track connector shown herein is particularly well adapted for use with a toy car having car carried electrically operated accessory of such a type as requires rather precise location along the track.

Since it is obvious that the invention may be embodied in other forms and constructions within the scope of the claims, I wish it to be understood that the particular form shown is but one of these forms, and various modifications and changes being possible, I do not otherwise limit myself in any way with respect thereto.

What is claimed is:

l. A device for use with toy railroad track, said track having flanged wheel bearing rails and an intermediate flanged power rail, comprising an insulating base, a fixed clip carried by the base and spaced from its upper surface to accommodate the flange of one wheel bearing rail, a spring clip carried by the base and spaced from its upper surface to snap over onto the opposite side of the flange of the power rail, whereby the base may be detachably secured to said rails, two elongated, upwardly extending, conducting control rails designed to normally conduct currentdirectly to the accessories on the train, secured to the upper surface of the base and extending parallel to the rail direction when the base is secured in place, one control rail being so positioned between the clips as to be between the power rail and the said wheel bearing rail, the other control rail being so positioned as 3 to be between the power nail and the other'wheel bearing rail, conducting spring clips having a plurality of legs, each with oneleg insertable into 21 control rail and another leg vertically positioned above the control rail so as to provide con.tacting,surfia ces ata higher elevation than that of thecontrol rails alone.

2. A device according to claim 1 .wherein said con ducing control rails are electrically connected to -.a; common connecting means.

3. A device according to claim 1 havingtwo :wite connectors .carried;by ,thetbase, .a..c0ndu,ctor connecting one wireconnectOr with.b.0tl1;control rails, and another conductor -connecting the spring clip -and-the other wire connector.

References Cited inthe file of this patent 1,152,489 1,391,322 1,692,285 1,784,778 l,&46,223 1,912,193 2,237,662

UNITED STATES PATENTS Cowen Sept. 7, Jones Sept. 20, Becker Nov. 20, @Becker -\Dec. *9, ,Ramus Feb..23, Handy ;May[13.0, 'Ferri Apr. 8, 

